Management of defects in storage media
First Claim
1. Method of accessing storage media having addressable locations and having a table of addresses of defective locations associated therewith, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media;
reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine if the access to the media will be impacted by defective locations;
modifying the obtained address while executing the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations; and
accessing the storage media location designated by the modified address while executing the job.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for avoiding accessing of defective locations in disks and other storage media. A disk file controller uses manufacturer-provided information about the location of defects to construct a sequentially ordered list of addresses of defective storage locations in the disk, and the list is stored in a table in the disk. During use of the disk, the disk file controller reads the table of defects into its memory and uses it to translate virtual addresses into real addresses. The translation process skips over real addresses of defective locations. The virtual address is translated into a real address by being incremented by the number of defects whose addresses are lower than the real address. Subsequent contiguous virtual addresses are translated into real addresses by being incremented by the number of contiguous defective locations that follow the location associated with the preceding virtual address. Addresses of new defects found during use of the disk are stored by the disk file controller in temporary storage on the disk and are incorporated into the defect table when the disk is taken out of service.
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Citations
55 Claims
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1. Method of accessing storage media having addressable locations and having a table of addresses of defective locations associated therewith, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media; reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine if the access to the media will be impacted by defective locations; modifying the obtained address while executing the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations; and accessing the storage media location designated by the modified address while executing the job. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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2. Method of accessing storage media having addressable locations, comprising the steps of:
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constructing a table of addresses of defective locations; obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media; reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine if the access to the media will be impacted by defective locations; modifying the obtained address while executing the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations; and accessing the storage media location designated by the modified address while executing the job. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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3. Method of accessing storage media having addressable locations and having a table of addresses of defective locations associated therewith, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media; reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine if the access to the media will be impacted by defective locations; modifying the obtained address while executing the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations, if at least one defective location impacts the access; accessing the storage media location designated by the modified address while executing the job, if at least one defective location impacts the access; and accessing the storage media location designated by the obtained address while executing the job, if no defective locations impact the access.
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4. Method of accessing storage media having addressable locations, comprising the steps of:
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constructing a table of addresses of defective locations; obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media; reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine if access to the media will be impacted by defective locations; modifying the obtained address while executing the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations, if at least one defective location impacts the access; accessing the storage media location designated by the modified address while executing the job, if at least one defective location impacts the access; and accessing the storage media location designated by the obtained address while executing the job, if no defective locations impact the access.
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19. Method of avoiding accessing of defective locations in storage media having addressable locations, comprising the steps of:
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constructing an ordered table of addresses of defective locations; obtaining for execution of a job a virtual address for accessing a location in the storage media; reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine the number of defective locations that will impact the access to the media; translating the obtained virtual address into a real address, while executing the job, using in the translation the determined number of defective locations; and accessing the storage media location designated by the real address, while executing the job. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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25. Method of avoiding accessing of defective locations in storage media having addressable locations, and having an ordered table of addresses of defective locations associated therewith, the method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining for execution of a job a virtual address for accessing a location in the storage media; reading contents of the table while executing the job to determine the number of defective locations that will impact the access to the media; translating the obtained virtual address into a real address, while executing the job, using in the translation the determined number of defective locations; and accessing the storage media location designated by the real address, while executing the job.
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36. Apparatus for accessing storage media having addressable locations and having a table of addresses of defective locations associated therewith, comprising:
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means for obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media; means for reading contents of the table during execution of the job to determine if the access to the media will be impacted by defective locations; means for modifying the obtained address during execution of the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations; and means for accessing during execution of the job the storage media location designated by the modified address. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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37. Apparatus for accessing storage media having addressable locations, comprising:
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means for constructing a table of addresses of defective locations; means for obtaining for execution of a job an address for accessing a location in the storage media; means for reading contents of the table during execution of the job to determine if the access to the media will be impacted by defective locations; means for modifying the obtained address during execution of the job to compensate for the impact of defective locations; and means for accessing during execution of the job the storage media location designated by the modified address. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40)
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46. Apparatus for avoiding accessing of defective locations in storage media having addressable locations, comprising:
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means for constructing an ordered table of addresses of defective locations; means for obtaining for execution of a job a virtual address for accessing a location in the storage media; means for reading contents of the table during execution of the job to determine the number of defective locations that will impact the access to the media; means for translating the obtained virtual address into a real address during execution of the job, using in the translation the determined number of defective locations; and means for accessing during execution of the job the storage media location designated by the real address. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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47. Apparatus for avoiding accessing of defective locations in storage media having addressable locations, and having an ordered table of addresses of defective locations associated therewith, the apparatus comprising:
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means for obtaining for execution of a job a virtual address for accessing a location in the storage media; means for reading contents of the table during execution of the job to determine the number of defective locations that will impact the access to the media; means for translating the obtained virtual address into a real address during execution of the job, using in the translation the determined number of defective locations; and means for accessing during execution of the job the storage media location designated by the real address.
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Specification